AHHHHHHHH! IT IS THE SECOND TO LAST CHAPTER EVERYONE. I REPEAT: IT IS THE SECOND TO LAST CHAPTER. THIS IS NOT A DRILL. *sirens blaring* *screaming everywhere* *fire burning in background* AHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Okay, I apologize for that. Hopefully that little outburst didn't scare you off. But anyways….

Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN DIVERGENT.

Chapter 49

Tris's POV

"MERRY CHRISTMAS, TRISSY POO!"

I expertly duck, leaving Uri to stumble over my outstretched foot in his dead sprint. I burst out laughing at the sight of him sprawled on the floor in red footie pajamas.

"What," I laugh, "are you wearing?"

He pouts. "My Christmas pajamas."

I roll my eyes and help him up, grunting for show. He shoves me away and huffs, stomping further into his house. I follow him, taking off my snow boots and coat by the door, dropping my gloves and hat beside them. Hana is the next person I see, currently making breakfast in the kitchen.

Uriah plops into the nearest chair, sulking. He jabs a thumb at me when Hana turns to look and says, "Mom, she's making fun of me!"

Hana laughs and points her spatula at her son. "For good reason, dear."

Uriah looks deeply offended. "You were supposed to defend me!"

"Honey, you brought that upon yourself when you and Zeke bought those."

My jaw drops. "Wait—Zeke has an ugly set of footie pajamas too?!"

"They are not ugly!" the two brothers sound at once, and I spin on my foot to see Zeke pounding down the stairs. And, sure enough, he wears matching pajamas, the green looking atrocious against his skin tone. I burst into laughter again, all air escaping my lungs.

"Please, please, please," I beg, "say that you forced Four into matching white ones."

Arms wrap around me from behind, and I squeal as they pick me up and spin me enough to make me dizzy. When I'm finally put down, Tobias's face swims into view looking quite entertained.

"They tried," he says with a shrug.

"And you hit me for it!" Zeke exclaims, going over to plop beside Uriah. "Look, Tris!"

He moves his shoulder out of the grasp of green fabric and shows me a blooming purple bruise. I laugh again and shoot a not-so-convincing ashamed look Tobias's direction. He rolls his eyes, looking very unbothered by the fact that he punched his best friend on Christmas morning.

"You are definitely on the naughty list for next year," I tut, shaking a finger. Zeke and Uriah look utterly thrilled that I'm scolding him, even if it's mockingly. From Hana's contained laughter and ignorance of the situation, I think it would be safe to guess that she hadn't done anything about the incident. Not that I blame her.

"Right," Tobias says in reply to me.

"Why in the world would you turn down a stylish set of footie pajamas?" I ask, and this seems to shock the Pedrad boys. It even seems to surprise Hana and Tobias, the former bursting into laughter from her place at the griddle and the latter's smirk dropping. "You are so rude, young man. I don't think you deserve a present from me anymore."

Tobias stands agape as Zeke and Uriah laugh.

"Yeah!" Uriah shouts. "You don't get your present now!"

"Looks like the Grinch found that having no Christmas spirit has consequences the hard way this year," Zeke comments, standing and patting Tobias's shoulder. "Tough luck, man. Maybe next year."

Tobias struggles not to retort, and I smile at the change in him. Moving in with the Pedrads had been good for him. It brought a certain boyishness back into his eyes that he hadn't had before.

Hana had been a good influence on him as well: Tobias had gone without a mother for so long that being nurtured and loved had completely escaped his world. Only in memories had he had that, so being given it again had a more than positive influence on him. He no longer walked with the weight of the world on his shoulders, as if each step was a struggle, as if he had to keep everyone he loved at a distance to protect them.

And as for me, well, having someone to help and protect the same way I wished someone had for me long ago brought a newfound purpose into my life. I was still weighed down, of course, as I'm sure I would be for awhile, but I was finally moving on with Mason's presence in the house. I was slowly letting go of the past.

Someone once told me to stop holding the weight of my family's lives on my shoulders, to stop reflecting on the past, that it was time to move on. And while I didn't put that into practice right away, I'm trying now. Live your life alive, she had said.

I planned to.

"Come on," Tobias grumbles as he takes my hand and leads me up the stairs, away from the laughing Pedrad brothers.

"I'm not done with you, young man," I say in a too-high voice. "I'm going to have to report you to Santa straight away."

"Oh, be quiet, would you?" Tobias says as he nudges his bedroom door open and pushes me inside. I giggle and plop down on his bed.

"But what would be the fun in that?" I say.

He rolls his eyes. "I don't like you very much."

"What!" I exclaim innocently. "I still have your present, don't I?" I wave the small package in my hand as if to prove a point. He gets down on his knees and reaches under the bed, pulling out a similarly sized package. "Should I ask why you had it hidden away down there?" I ask curiously.

"Because I didn't want Dipshit One and Dipshit Two to get into it," he answers with a huff.

"Understandable but still questionable."

"How's that?" he asks as he sits beside me.

"I just wonder how dangerous it is," I say with a thoughtful shrug. "I mean, you did keep it where the monsters under your bed stay."

He shoots me an annoyed look, though I could tell he wasn't really annoyed. He sets the present to the side and says, "I don't have to give it to you."

"Hey, now!" I say and lunge across him toward the discarded package. He swats at my hand and I mock offense, pulling my uninjured hand to my chest and willing tears to my eyes. He throws his head back and groans. I fight a laugh.

"God, you're insufferable today."

I snivel. "That hurt," I whine.

He runs a tired hand down his face. "I am so sorry," he says.

"You know, if you added anymore sarcasm in there I might think you weren't sorry at all," I say, smiling at him as though nothing had happened. He grits his teeth to keep himself from commenting—something I'm sure wasn't going to be the jolliest—and plops my present into my lap.

"You first," I unthinkingly tell him and carefully hand the small square over.

"I'm only not arguing because I know I wouldn't get anywhere."

"They learn so fast," I playfully say and ruffle his hair, laying down and propping my head up with pillows from his neatly made bed. Well, it wasn't too neat after my ransacking, but I knew he'd fix it as soon as I got up anyway. He was funny like that.

He starts to unwrap it, but my eyes widen as something in my brain registers and I spring up, snatching it away from him. "Wait!" He looks questioningly at me, and my cheeks turn red. "Nevermind the whole 'you go first' thing. I, um...you'll get this later. I forgot something."

His eyebrows pinch together in confusion. "Tris?"

"Later," I say too quickly. "Now, give me my present."

He takes a few moments before responding to my request, gently laying it in my lap. I pick it up, my cheeks still pink, and carefully begin to unwrap it. The carefulness lasted until I saw an intricate design, and then the paper quickly littered his bed and floor in shreds. I take in a sharp breath at the sight of the piano books, running my fingers over them dotingly.

"I remember you mentioning that you lost some of the music in the move here, that the books you lost were some of your mother's favorites. And I know that they aren't the originals, but I wanted to help you recover them in some way," Tobias nervously explained, rubbing the back of his neck.

I bite my lip to keep the tears at bay and gently set the books aside.

"But if this falls through and you hate it, I have chocolate as a back-up plan."

I laugh and throw my arms around him. "No. No, this is perfect. Thank you."

He relaxes and wraps his arms around me, holding me tightly to him. "Could you still take the chocolate, though? Zeke and Uriah are bad enough without sugar. If they found it…"

I chuckle. "Fine. I'll take the chocolate, too. But only because I know you don't have the biggest sweet tooth, and I can't let such a delicacy go to waste."

I pull away from him a little bit later and wipe my cheeks of the few tears that did manage to escape. "Can we talk? Somewhere away from...unwanted ears?" I carefully phrase.

Tobias frowns concernedly. "Did something happen?"

"No. Not like that," I quickly assure him. "But I really do need to talk to you."

He stares at me, searching for some idea of what I need to talk to him about. The only clue he gets is the nervous wringing of my fingers. When he can't find an augury of what I need to say, he stands and offers me a hand. "Come on. We can take a walk."

I nod and take his outstretched hand, letting him pull me up. "Is it all right if I leave the books here, or should I put them somewhere else?"

Tobias shrugs and lets go of my hand to remake the bed. I smile at his predictable action. "You can leave them here. I don't mind."

So I do.

It's only about ten more minutes before we're both outside and walking at a leisurely pace across the snow covered ground. Tobias's present is resting in the inside of my coat, jutting into my ribs at every step and making me shuffle uncomfortably. I open my mouth several times as if to speak, but each time my effort falls through, and my jaw snaps back shut. Eventually, I sigh and pull him into the same park Uriah and I once talked in.

He's all in, Tris.

"Here," I say, deciding that there was no good way to start the conversation, and fish out the partially unwrapped present. He takes it warily. I roll my eyes. "It doesn't bite. Promise."

He smirks a little and unwraps the rest of it, stuffing the wrapping paper into his coat pocket and pulling the dainty little frames from their packaging.

"You said you didn't have pictures of anyone worth remembering," I softly say as an explanation. "And I wanted to change that."

He naturally stares at the one on top first, and my heart pounds in my chest. "When was this taken?"

"It was the day after I said we should...we should take a break," I hesitantly say. He tenses. "They were over for the day; Tori took our picture when she got home. I completely forgot that the picture existed until I saw the frame in a store and I was reminded of it." Tobias stares even longer at the photo, and he brushes his thumb over the fragile glass. I swallow. "Look at the other one," I whisper.

His breath catches as he switches the frames, and I can see the picture clearly in my mind: the two of us in the rain, soaking wet but utterly unrushed, his forehead touching mine after my first kiss in the rain. My arms are haphazardly thrown around his neck and our eyes are shut, and a smile graces his face. To me that was the best part of the entire scene—not the stance we're in, not the significance behind that picture, not even the memory, but his smile. The smile that showed me that life was worth living, if only just for the little things.

"Tobias," I say, anxious, "I've...I've been thinking lately. And I miss you. And...and if you want to too, I...I think-"

I didn't get the chance to finish my terrible attempt at a speech—his lips descended on mine before I could.

As he kisses me, slowly and lovingly, an aching in my chest goes away and is replaced with a warmth only he could provide.

I'd forgotten just how much I loved kissing him.

I put my hands on his waist and feel the sharp edges of the picture frames graze my back as he holds me. I pull away for a minute, opening my eyes to meet his. "I never got to ask my question," I say quietly.

"And yet you already have an answer," he says with a pointed look.

"But we're technically still on a break," I say, silently urging him to say the confirmative words I want to hear. "We're supposed to be friends right now, and, correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think friends just up and kiss each other."

Tobias shrugs and steps closer to me, leaning down far enough that his breath fans out over my lips, warming them without any actual contact. I shiver, but it isn't because of the cold.

He leans in farther, and right before he places his lips on mine again, he murmurs, "We were never good at being friends, anyway."

"Get inside, you two! It's freezing! Quite literally!" Hana shouts as we reach the house again.

Tobias smiles sheepishly at her. "Sorry, Hana."

"Don't apologize, just get in!"

I giggle and step inside, removing my shoes, coat, hat, and gloves and placing them neatly by the door. Tobias hurries in, shutting the door behind him but not before several snowflakes float in and melt on the floor. Hana gives him a disapproving look but only points toward the kitchen.

"Brunch is in there. You're more than welcome to join us, Tris, since I doubt you'll be able to go home any time soon with that snow."

I smile. "Thank you, Hana."

She shakes her head at us in disbelief and sighs. "We're all eating in the living room. The boys are watching the Grinch. You can eat in the kitchen, though, and I won't blame you."

Tobias rolls his eyes. "Of course, they are."

"I'm going to get some food while you put those away," I say, gesturing to the picture frames still in his hand. "And you should probably change into...you know, less snow-covered clothes."

He scowls. "Don't even try to pretend you didn't push me."

I raise my hands in surrender. "I did no such thing."

I try not to smile as he shakes his head and walks past me to go upstairs. Meanwhile, I go to the kitchen and grab a heaping amount of food—an amount that Goliath himself would be proud of. But I don't stay in the kitchen like I'm sure Tobias was tempted to, instead going to the living room and sitting between Zeke and Uriah on the couch. I'm immediately flooded with extra warmth, and I frown at the sudden heat.

"Okay, either you guys are really hot or I'm just really cold."

Both of their heads snap to me, and Uriah smirks. "If that was your idea of flirting, Tris, you should probably work on it."

I roll my eyes. "Shut up, Uri. I'm serious. Are you guys sick or something?"

"It's the pajamas, youngling," Zeke answers, grabbing one of my hands and placing it on the sleeve. I was ready to fight back against him, only postponed by the surprise, but as soon as I touched the soft material I couldn't pull away.

"Oh my God," I say in surprise. "I take back everything I said. These pajamas are a godsend."

"Well…" Uriah says and trails off, looking to Zeke. Zeke nods and grabs my food, putting it in Hana's lap.

"Hey!" I shout as they yank me up.

"Come along, child, and we shall show you the ways of the light."

"I'm fairly certain no one has ever said that," I say with a look, "but I will follow you because I'm curious as to what this adventure entails and what lies at the end of it."

"Now, we're talking," Uriah grins.

"I am suddenly so glad you didn't force Four into these," I say, still in awe over the warmth and fuzziness of the fabric.

"We told you so," Uriah says. "Aren't you glad we're so forgiving?"

"You know, I don't think we could have forced Four into those. It would have been much too small on him, though it's at least two times too big on you. You're unnaturally small, you know that? You're like a tiny little ballerina," Zeke says in wonder, pinching at the rolls of excess fabric.

"Tris, honey, feel free to keep those. Lord knows Four will never use them," Hana says with an eyeroll.

"What?!" both boys exclaim.

Zeke continues. "You told us to throw these things away when we showed you! You said to get rid of them!"

"Why is Tris so special?" Uri whines, stealing a piece of bacon from my almost empty plate. I slap his wrist hard enough to leave a mark. He winces and drops the bacon. I take it and shove it into my mouth, chewing and swallowing in record time.

"Because, unlike you, she looks absolutely adorable. Especially in white," Hana answers, a twinkle in her eye. I laugh and stick my tongue out at them tauntingly.

We all hush up as we hear footsteps walking down the stairs, and Zeke actually looks horrified as Tobias comes around the corner, toweling his wet hair from what I'm sure was a hot shower. But his motions quickly come to a stop as he takes in the scene. I stand, my pajamas drooping even further past my legs and arms, and I shoot him a toothy grin, my head tilting slightly to the left.

"What," Tobias slowly says, laying his gaze directly on Zeke, "have you done to my girlfriend?" My heart skips a beat at the word, and my cheeks warm. Hopefully, no one noticed.

Zeke scratches his neck, but before he can reply, Uriah confidently answers, "We brought her to the dark side."

"Light side," I correct, and at Tobias's look, I add, "Honestly? I have no regrets. This was completely on my own free will." Tobias blinks once, twice, three times. "I was cold and they had an extra, soooo…" I move toward him and grab his hand, just as Zeke had earlier, and rub it along the sleeve with a grin. "Feel how soft it is! Hana said I could keep it!"

"You're not seriously thinking of keeping this thing, are you?" Tobias questions, looking me up and down.

"Um….yes," I say obviously, my eyebrows pinching together as if questioning why he would think differently.

"No," he says. "Absolutely not. You are not keeping those."

"Oh, yes I am," I argue. "Besides, Hana said I look adorable in them. Didn't you, Hana?" I say with a mischievous smile in her direction. She laughs, catching on to what's to come, and confirms. "Am I not?" I ask Tobias with a smaller voice than before, and his face twists into one of slight distraught. "Do you not think I'm adorable?"

Zeke and Uriah snicker at my trick, and I can't help but smirk. Tobias can't get out of this now, even though he knows I'm only doing it to make him approve of the pajamas. I dug a hole and threw him in without warning, and it was much too deep to crawl out of without assistance.

Tobias turns his nose up at me and exhales, seemingly coming to the same conclusion. My smirk grows wider as he says, "Fine. You look adorable. But I'm not kissing you while you have those on."

I laugh. "We'll just see about that."

Zeke and Uriah cheer at the small victory, whooping and hollering as if they'd just won the lottery. Although, I wholeheartedly believe that they would be less excited about winning the lottery than they are now.

"I'm going to need food if this is what I have to deal with all day," is all Tobias says before turning around.

"I need your help," I whisper to Hana when Tobias has left the room.

"I'm listening," she says, a questioning look in her eyes.

I smirk. "Do you have any mistletoe?"

She springs up, faster than I thought a woman her age could achieve, and moves to the coffee table where Zeke and Uriah are resting their feet and shoves them off.

"Hey!" they shout in unison. Hana shushes them before reaching into the decorative bowl full of fake-frosted plants and poinsettias, pulling out a single branch of mistletoe and grinning widely.

"I like the way you think, Tris," she says and hands the branch to Uriah. "Zeke, give your brother a piggyback ride to the wall right outside the kitchen, and be quiet about it, would you?"

"Why do I have to give the piggyback ride?" Zeke whines.

"Because you are the oldest one wearing those pajamas, so you automatically get the most shame. Now go, both of you, and don't drop the damned thing!" Hana whisper-shouts, quick as a flash. I hardly have time to laugh at Zeke's hurt look before we're being ushered the other direction, Zeke whispering about how heavy Uri is the whole way.

We eventually get situated, Zeke and Uriah hiding behind the wall between the entryway and the kitchen, me out in the open. "Four?" I say quietly, and force my face to turn into one of unsureness.

He stops the plating of his food that puts even mine to shame, and turns. "Tris?" he questions, frowning and putting his plate down. "What's wrong?"

I shake my head and look down. "Do you really want me to take these off?"

Tobias rolls his eyes and sighs. "The only reason I said that was to make sure Zeke and Uriah knew just how terrible I thought they looked in them. You, however, look too damn cute for your own good."

My cheeks heat up unexpectedly and I hear the faint outcries from the boys still hidden beside me. As Tobias turns back around to continue gathering his food, I kick Zeke in the shin. He hisses through his teeth but they go quiet once again, waiting.

"But I'm still not kissing you while you are in those. Zeke or Uriah could see and give me crap for days. Hana would be even worse," Tobias continues.

"Oh," I force myself to say in a fake hurt tone, looking back down again and drawing patterns on the floor with my toe.

A pause, a movement, then a sigh of, "Tris."

I stay quiet, blinking faster than normal as if I were trying to keep tears at bay. I bite my lip too, knowing that the move could be my ticket to victory. And I couldn't have been more correct.

"Are you really guilt tripping me into kissing you?" Tobias says in disbelief, crossing the room completely to stand in front of me.

I look up, and smile. "Not guilt tripping. Tricking."

"What?" he asks in confusion, then startles as a few snickers fill the room.

"Look up," I say, smirking.

Tobias does so and sighs as he sees the wobbly mistletoe, closing his eyes and pinching his nose while he shakes his head. "You're turning into one of them. I can't do this anymore."

"Can't do what?" I ask innocently.

"Keep falling for your antics," he answers smoothly, though I'm sure that's not what the real answer was. I don't know what it was, but I'm sure it was also not-so-jolly.

"You're just so easy to trick. I can't help it," I say in defense.

"I don't have to kiss you, you know," he points out, shooting a look at the Pedrad duo recklessly piled on top of one another.

"Uriah is heavy, man! Just kiss her already so I can let him down!" Zeke whines.

Tobias points to them as if they were supposed to be the next big thing but turned out to be the biggest disappointment of the century. "That," he says, "is a large part of the reason I won't."

"Why?" I question. "Because they're watching?"

"No," he says. "Because they were in on this."

I laugh, not being able to help myself. "But it's mistletoe, Four. According to law, you have to kiss me."

"Two things," he says. "One, I don't have to do anything. And two, I am one hundred percent sure no such law exists."

"Just kiss her, dear!" Hana shouts from the other room. "Before it gets ugly!"

Tobias sighs exasperatedly. "You got Hana in on this, too?"

"More so than Dipshit One and Dipshit Two," I answer.

"She's right, you know," Uriah says in response to his given nickname. "We didn't volunteer for this. Mom made us."

Tobias shakes his head at me. "I'm not going to kiss you."

"But that's where you're wrong," I say, tutting. Tobias rolls his eyes and walks back to the kitchen. "Say, Zeke," I muse. "Have I ever told you about the time I pranked Four?"

Tobias stops in his tracks, slowly turning around to face me. "You wouldn't."

"Oh my God. I don't care whether or not he kisses her at this point," Uriah says excitedly. "I just want to hear this story."

"Tris," Tobias says warningly.

I smirk.

"I have to say, pink is definitely his color."

Zeke and Uriah burst out laughing, and I can even hear the sound of Hana's tinkling laughter from the living room. Tobias clenches his jaw. I pluck the mistletoe from Uriah's grasp and keep it held up as he and Zeke collapse into a hysteric heap on the floor.

"I'm willing to divulge more," I say with a glint in my eye. "Much more."

"Oh, for God's sake," Tobias says and crosses the room. He grabs my face, pulling it to his in seconds. I laugh into the kiss, and Tobias breaks away as soon as he hears me. "Are you happy now?"

I smile at him, all traces of previous mischief gone, and quietly say, "Not quite."

I stand on my tiptoes and wrap my arms around his neck, my right hand still clutching the branch of mistletoe. Tobias's annoyance with me fades fairly quickly, and one of his hands rests on my upper back while the other rests on my hip. I'm sure we look ridiculous, me with two-sizes-too-big footie pajamas, him with dripping wet hair and a towel slung over his shoulders, but it felt all the more special because of that unconventionalism.

A bright flash of light breaks us apart, and I turn to see Hana holding up her camera with a smile.

"You'll both get a copy, don't you worry," she says as she goes back into the living room where I assume Zeke and Uriah have run off to.

I giggle and turn back to Tobias, gently lowering my feet back to the ground. He chuckles, shakes his head, and rests it on my own. His dark irises stare into mine, blue against blue, and he smiles, kissing me once more before saying, "Merry Christmas, beautiful."

I blush but smile. "Merry Christmas, Tobias," I whisper.

*sniveling* UNTIL NEXT TIME! *bawls*